


The Way the World Ends

by Leahelisabeth (fortheloveofcamelot)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Car Accidents, Grief/Mourning, Loss of Child, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-11 09:30:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11711604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortheloveofcamelot/pseuds/Leahelisabeth
Summary: Bitty's world ends when Jack isn't there.  How can he bear to tell him what they've lost?





	The Way the World Ends

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [Joanne_Lupin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joanne_Lupin/pseuds/Joanne_Lupin) in the [OMGCP_Heartbreak_Fest_2017](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/OMGCP_Heartbreak_Fest_2017) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
>  
> 
> Characters/Pairings: Zimbits or Nurseydex  
> Prompt Details: Write a fic about the main characters dealing with the aftermath of their child's death.  
> Additional Info: Very open-ended. The age of the child, the number of siblings, the cause of death, etc. can be up to you. You can cover as much of the child's life as you want and go as far after their death as you wish. Other characters can show up, or it can focus closely on the family.  
> Squicks: (More) character death, animal death, Kent Parson  
> Maximum Rating: NC-17

This was how Bitty’s world ended. He looked at his phone and for a moment, he couldn’t remember how it worked. He just sat there, staring at the keypad. He hadn’t prayed for a long time, not since before leaving Madison to go to university. But he was praying now, praying to find the strength to make this call and deal with the inevitable fallout. With shaking fingers, he dialed the number from memory and held his breath as it started to ring.

“Eric?” The strong familiar voice he had been craving came on the line. “I thought you weren’t going to call until after school so I could talk to the munchkin too.”

Bitty dissolved into tears. “Jack,” was all he could get out.

“Bits? What’s wrong?” Jack sounded calm but Bitty could hear the note of panic in his tone. “Are you alright?”

Bitty just shook his head and kept crying. He realized belatedly that Jack couldn’t see him and he gathered what strength he could. “There was an accident...on the way to school. I tried...but the car came out of nowhere...”

Jack is talking, trying to get him to slow down, but Bitty is beyond that point. “Eric,” he finally manages to cut Bitty off. “Tell me you’re ok. Where are you calling from?”

“The hospital,” Bitty said quietly. “Elena…” he trailed off in another flood of tears.

And now Jack sounds scared. “What happened to my baby girl?”

“You need to get here, Honey,” Bitty wept. “Now.”

“I’ll be on the next flight. But you have to tell me…” Jack’s voice broke. “Is she alive?”

“They won’t tell me anything,” Bitty said, trying to get his tears under control. “She’s in surgery. I just...I just need you.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Jack promised. “I have to get off the phone to make some arrangements. Text me...if anything happens.”

The call ended and Bitty stared at the blank screen of his phone and let himself drift. He had heard of a person’s life flashing before their eyes when they were about to die and he wondered if it was a bad sign that all he could see were the moments of Elena’s life. He remembered shortly after their marriage when they had first put themselves on the adoption registry and the long process that had set into motion before they were finally holding a tiny pink bundle in their arms, their own little person to love and take care of.

It was like watching a movie, he and Jack on the couch the day they brought her home. They sat there and just took her in, ten fingers, ten toes, perfect button nose, bright blue eyes. And then to see her grow up, take her first wobbling steps into Jack’s arms, speak her first words, call them papa and daddy, every moment was a blessing. Her 5th birthday party had only been last week and Elena had made Bitty leave the streamers hanging up all over the living room so it could be her castle.

The moments keep playing before his eyes and he can’t stop them. He’s watching them eat breakfast this morning, her toast cut into dinosaur shapes by her favourite cookie cutters. He’s watching her brush her teeth and spit toothpaste everywhere but in the sink. He’s watching her push his hands away when he tries to put on her jacket. He’s watching himself put her in her booster seat and tighten her seatbelt and that is the moment that everything goes blank.

* * *

A hand on his shoulder brought the world back into focus. Bitty raised his head and found himself looking at his husband. “You’re here?” he whispered. “How did you get here so fast?”

“I took a private plane. All that NHL money has got to be good for something, right,” Jack tried to smile but it didn’t reach his eyes.

Bitty stared dumbly down at his phone, still clenched tight in his hands. “I was just talking to you.”

Jack reached down and slowly pulled the phone out of Bitty’s grasp. Bitty flexed his hands and gasped in pain as the blood rushed back into them. 

“That was two hours ago,” Jack said softly, sitting beside Bitty on the waiting room sofa and pulling him in tight to his side.

“Two hours?!” Bitty panicked and tried to get up. “They haven’t said anything. Nobody’s told me anything! Why haven’t they come out yet?”

“Eric, calm down, it’s alright. They’ll tell us when they have something to say,” Jack is calm and Bitty wonders how he can just sit there and be so solid.

“You don’t understand! You didn’t see her! You didn’t see the blood!” Bitty sobbed into Jack’s shoulder.

Jack just looked at him. He cradled his husband’s face between his palms. “The doctor’s are helping her. We have to let them do their job. What about you? Did they see you?” He rubbed a trail of dry blood from the side of Bitty’s head. 

“Concussion. It’s mild. I’ll be fine,” Bitty started to slap Jack’s hands away but thought better of it and held them close to his chest instead.

“You should still be resting,” Jack said and he pulled Bitty back down. “I’m here now. Take a nap. I’ll wake you once the doctor shows up.”

Bitty didn’t sleep.

He was still staring off into nowhere when the doctor stopped in front of them. Bitty sat up and scrubbed the tears from his cheeks. His heart sank when he saw the grim look on the doctor’s face.

“I’m sorry,” the man said, and then Bitty could see his mouth moving but he couldn’t hear anything over the roaring sound in his ears. Everything went dark.

* * *

Bitty woke up in a hospital bed. He didn’t know how long it had been. Jack sat in a chair beside his bed, hand tracing lines up and down Bitty’s arm.

“Did that really happen?” Bitty asked softly.

Jack looked at him and he just looked so tired. Bitty didn’t think he had ever seen his husband look so defeated. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. In the end, he just nodded. 

“I couldn’t hear what he said. Is she?...” Bitty trailed off, unsure if he could bear to hear the words.

“They tried but she had severe internal injuries,” Jack whispered, looking away. “They fought for our little girl…but...”

“She’s really gone,” Bitty sunk back into his pillows.

Jack nodded. His face crumpled and Bitty swore he could see his heart tearing in two right in front of him. “Where do we go from here?” Jack asked.

“Oh,” Bitty wept. “You’re right of course. I can check out of here whenever and if you’ll just give me some time, I’ll arrange for my things to be moved. You don’t have to see me again if you don’t want to.”

And Jack was stumbling forward, kneeling on the floor by the bed and gripping his arm bruisingly tight. “What? No! Please don’t leave me! I can’t...I can’t lose you too. Why would you think this is a good solution?”

“I killed her.” Bitty confessed. He draped an arm across his face to avoid meeting Jack’s eyes. “This whole thing is my fault.”

“Of course it’s not your fault,” Jack sputters. “I talked to the police after you passed out. The guy who hit you was drunk and he ran a red light. There are traffic cam videos and everything. You are not at fault. It was an accident.”

“I...I don’t really remember it. Are you sure? Lord knows, sometimes I get distracted, just for a second, but that’s all it would take,” Bitty still wouldn’t look at Jack.

“I’m sure. Everyone is sure,” Jack said firmly. He reached out and grasped Bitty’s chin. “Eric, I need you to look at me when I say this.”

Bitty took a few deep breaths and looked at Jack.

“I’m sad. I’m really fucking sad. This might be the single worst day of my life. But it would be a hundred times worse if I had lost you too. I don’t know if I would survive it,” Jack said.

Bitty wasn’t sure where the flood of tears was coming from. He was sure that he must be close to running out but they kept coming. “Jack,” he sobbed and clutched at his husband’s shoulders.

Jack carefully slid his arms under Bitty at the shoulders and knees and moved him to the far end of the bed. Then he crawled in beside Bitty and wrapped himself around the smaller man, holding him close. They lay there and cried together. They weren’t alright. Bitty wondered if they would ever be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Come reblog this work and view others from this fest [HERE](https://omgcpheartbreakfest.tumblr.com/) on the omgcpheartbreakfest tumblr page!


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